Advances in Research on Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Successful implementation of new technologies that rely on the use of renewable energy requires the use of thermal energy storage to reduce the mismatch between energy supply and demand. The use of phase change materials is an attractive option to achieve high energy storage density and near-isothermal power supply. Phase change materials can be used for thermal energy storage at different temperature levels in many applications, both in buildings and in industry. The proper design and implementation of the system, its economic feasibility, as well as the reliability of system control strategies are key aspects related to the use of thermal energy storage through phase change materials. This Special Issue aims to encourage researchers to submit innovative proposals and solutions to address one or more of the abovementioned aspects.

Prof. Dr. Luisa F. Cabeza
Dr. Gabriel Zsembinszki
Dr. Emiliano Borri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• thermal energy storage
• phase change materials
• renewable energy
• energy efficiency
• economic feasibility
• energy savings
• experimental analysis
• numerical simulations

• Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications 2022 in Energies (7 articles)
• Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications in Energies (8 articles)

Title: Experimental evaluation of thermal behavior of inorganic PCMs with nanoparticles
Authors: Franklin R. Martínez1,2; Gabriel Zsembinszki1; David Vérez1; Svetlana Ushak2,*; Luisa F. Cabeza1*
Affiliation: 1 GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001, Lleida Spain; [email protected] (L.F.C.); [email protected] (G.Z.); [email protected] (D.V.); [email protected] (F.R.M.) 2 Center for Advanced Research in Lithium and Industrial Mineral, University of Antofagasta, Avenue Univer-sidad de Antofagasta 02800, Antofagasta, Chile; [email protected] (S.U.)
Abstract: The use of phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES) is attractive due to their high-energy storage density within a narrow temperature range. Inorganic PCMs such as salt hydrates and eutectic mixtures are attractive options, although they do have drawbacks like subcooling. This study investigates the addition of commercial nanoparticles in inorganic PCMs to improve the subcooling issue. Specifically, a ternary eutectic mixture of Mg(NO3)2·6H2O - NH4NO3 (61.2-38.8wt.%), a ternary eutectic mixture of Mg(NO3)2∙6H2O – bischofite (50.7-49.3wt.%), and an inorganic commercial PCM were experimentally tested in a lab-scale shell-and-tube finned tank. The two eutectic mixtures were doped with 3% of a mixture of na-noparticles of γ-Al2O3 and Mg(OH)2 (50-50wt.%) as additives. All resulting PCMs underwent melting and solidification cycles in a temperature range between 30 ºC and 70 ºC. Results show that the use of additives reduced the subcooling from 7 ºC to 6 ºC and from 5 ºC to 4 ºC in the case of the first and the second mixtures, respectively. The commercial PCM exhibited a sub-cooling of 6 ºC. Moreover, the melting and crystallization processes occurred faster when addi-tives were used, which indicate an improvement in the thermal conductivity of the mixtures.